Radeon X1800XT

freestyler105

Golden Master
Messages
7,883
I bought the Radeon X1800XT video card off my friend for a pretty good price the other day. Well, when I got home, I found out that the card takes up an extra expansion slot above the PCIe slot. Unfortunately, my case doesn't have the extra slot that is necessary AND it won't fit on the motherboard due to the genius placement of the PS/2 ports.

Is there any solution to this problem other than cutting apart my case/buying a new case and motherboard? Or do I just sell it for more to save up for that DX10 card?

FYI Here's my current setup:

Gateway GT5028
Mobo: not sure CPU-Z says model C51MCP51 though
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2 GB OCZ PC3200 RAM
Geforce 6600 overclocked
Media Center Edition 2005

Anything else you need to know is stock
 
You should get a new case and motherboard. That system will last you a fairly long time, even with high end games, don't bother buying an even better gfx. That one is still really good. I'm running BF2 on a 3500+ with 6800GT and 1GB RAM on pretty much high specs. Good luck with it mate.
 
I wouldn't cut some off my case to fit a GFX card in, but that's just me. I just don't feel comfortable doing that. If you want to, then don't let me hold you back; I just wouldn't do it. The way I see it, if you want to upgrade your graphics (btw, HUGE difference between 6600 and 6800GT), then it looks like you've got a couple options:

1) Get a different card :p : Sell your X1800XT (not that it's a bad card at all; see explanation). You might be able to gain quite a bit of money, probably at the very least $200, possibly over $250 or 300, and that would be a great jumpstart for a DX10 card. Just keep in mind, you need Vista to run the card in DX10 mode; however, you can still run the card on Windows XP, it'll just be like DX9, but a really really fast one. One problem with waiting though: chances are that they will also take up two slots. Not a definite, but just a possibility.

2) Get a different motherboard, possibly needing a new case to go along with it. If you get either a Crossfire (recommended since you've got ATI) or an SLI board, those will have an extra PCI-E slot further down so you can fit the card in. Just make sure it will fit in your case first.

3) And of course what you said, cut some off the back of your case.

The motherboard option will probably be cheaper, but will require more work and you won't get DX10 with the X1800XT. But you do get to keep your card, which is a very nice one. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the help guys. Well, it's a tough choice, but I think I'll just sell it. Right now, Tigerdirect has a deal: $125 for the GeForce 7600GT.

Does anyone know if this card is any good? From what I can tell, it looks decent, and will last for quite a while. Also, the Radeon X1600 Pro is on sale for $144. Is one significantly better than the other, or should I just go for the lower priced 7600GT?

7600GT

X1600 Pro
 
I also forgot to mention that my computer currently only has a 300 watt power supply. Would I need to upgrade that for the 7600 GT?
 
Thanks and all, but right now all I want to know if it is really necessary to upgrade or not. If I can squeeze by with the 300 watt PSU, that would be nice, but if I have to upgrade, the one mentioned in that thread looks good.
 
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